Musical Moments
by Rakuengaki
Summary: A musical window into the lives of Sephiroth, Zack and Cloud before it all goes to the firey pits of doom.
1. Christmas Carols

A/N: Ok so... this is my attempt to get my enthusiasm for GDP back. It usually happens around the point the story is at that I start to loose interest and energy for the project but not this time! I started this thing and I'll finish so in the meantime I might write up some little ficlets like this one for you guys so you won't get bored. Also, this is my attempt at venting. We've got lyriced christmas carols where I work now and they drive me nuts! Enjoy the fic guys and tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: Don't own a thing. Songs belong to their rightful owners and FFVII belongs to Square Enix.

* * *

"Jingle bell, Jingle bell, Jingle bell rock,

Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring.

Snowing and blowing up bushels of fun.

Now the jingle hop has begun."

It was times like these that he cursed his memory. Just once, he wished that he could not memorize almost everything he heard, songs being at the top of the list. It was the start of December and he supposed that the music the HR department had decided to play was raising the spirits of other office workers but it was starting to really grate on his nerves and he could tell the rest of his soldiers were getting sick of the music as well. It hadn't been so bad at first as he was able to ignore it by letting classical pieces run through his mind as he did his work but the songs were quickly worming their way into his mind and playing themselves distractedly on repeat. Even the most energetic Wutaian piece couldn't stand up to the frilly lyrics. The words slowly slithered through his ears like snakes and wrapped around his brain, sinking into his memory as though they belonged there, as though they were the finest koto piece played by the best player in the world. They were--

"They're evil rotten pieces of shit and HR is out to fucking get us!" That actually summed it up rather well. He heard a voice murmur faintly, Zack's louder tones quickly cutting him off as they approached the office. Hearing the two distinct walking patterns, Sephiroth's heart swelled in his chest, a small smile flickering across his face as he signed his name to the bottom of the last report and set it in the Out box. The door to his office opened a bare second later and in stormed his Second in Command and the little blonde shadow that accompanied him most everywhere.

"Seph, tell Spiky here that these damn 'christmas carols' are HR's attempt to torture every SOLDIER in the building because they're jealous assholes!" Sephiroth's eyebrow quirked up at the man's heavy swearing as Cloud shut the door quietly and Zack flopped into a chair in front of the desk.

"I keep telling you, Zack, they aren't that bad—"

"They're horrible!!" Cloud rolled his eyes and huffed, accepting the hand Sephiroth held out to him and allowing himself to be tugged into his General's lap.

"You have the patience of a saint, Cloud," Sephiroth said, laying a light kiss on the blonde's cheek. Cloud blushed, still not used to being affectionate with the powerful man and looked to the floor.

"It's… it's not really patience, sir," he said, thankfully not stuttering this time. Zack snorted as the blonde opened his mouth to explain further.

"Has to be if you can stand to listen about a reindeer with a radioactive nose eighteen thousand times a day."

"It's not patience. I just replace the words." Now Sephiroth was curious. Looking up from examining the busted knuckles on Cloud's left hand, he cast the boy a questioning glance.

"Replace the words?" Zack asked. Cloud nodded and tilted his head a little, listening as the words for I came upon a midnight clear started.

"I came upon a road kill deer

A sorrowful sight to behold.

He lay upon the highway's edge,

His body was stiff and cold.

I bet he never saw the car,

Careening through the snow.

The lights shone brightly in his eyes,

And then they laid him low." Cloud's voice was soft and a little hesitant at first, growing in strength by the end of the short two verses. Zack stared at him for a long moment before snorting, laughing lightly, no doubt repeating the lyrics in his mind.

"That's hilarious!" he said, still chuckling. "Where the heck did you learn that?" Cloud smiled bashfully.

"Well… my mother isn't fond of the songs either so… she invented her own." Zack snorted again and grinned.

"Got anymore?" Cloud looked thoughtful for a moment before grinning brightly, Sephiroth's heart again doing that strange little flip it was prone to when confronted with the blonde's joy.

"I'll write them down for you."

"Score! I can show 'em to Kunsel and the other guys and then we can just belt them out to drown out the torture device!" Sephiroth shook his head and tugged Cloud a little closer, kissing his cheek again.

"You may have just caused more damage, Cloud," he said. Cloud just smiled and shrugged, a brief mischievous light entering his eyes

"It'll be funny though." Sephiroth hummed a note of agreement and tugged the little blonde into a kiss as Zack started talking, brainstorming his own lyrics for the carols. He made a mental note to read over the lyrics Cloud made before handing them to Zack, welcoming the distraction internally and indulging in his favorite one for the moment, thoughts of annoying carols vanishing from his mind for the moment.


	2. Flexibile

A/N: Hello! Sorry I'm posting this instead of another chapter of GDP but I'm afraid I'm still a bit stuck on it. So now I give you this! Christmas Carols is being renamed as Musical Moments and it'll be a series of short drabbles to give a little insight to the lives of Sephiroth, Cloud and Zack before the events of Falls the Shadow and Good Doctor's Plan. If anyone has any suggestions or requests for this or any suggestions for Good Doctor's Plan I am fully open to them and look forward to your thoughts! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Zack could hardly believe it. When he thought about it, it was so obvious. Cloud had been almost insanely flexible since the first time he had seen the boy fight. Although he was small, he used his size, speed and insane flexibility to his advantage to surprise and defeat his opponents during combat training. Now, Zack himself was very flexible. Being a First Class SOLDIER kind of demanded some level of flexibility so that he'd be able to dodge anything aimed at slicing his head clean off. He practiced yoga with some of the other guys, enjoyed flipping around in the gym on the mats, playing SOLDIER dodge ball (which would probably be classified as attempted murder if civilians saw them play) but he had never thought of doing what Cloud did.

At this very moment, the petite blonde cadet had his eyes closed, thick head phones covering his ears, no doubt pumping some sort of high beat music into his brain, and he was moving. Not just moving but dancing. His body twisted, turned, and contorted. It was astounding. No wonder the blonde could dodge practically everything! He was like a friggin' snake! In the back of his mind he had to wonder if Sephiroth knew but he doubted it. Cloud was far too shy to show him and no doubt when Spiky realized that he was being watched he'd turn three shades of red and deny it. Yep. There he goes.

"Z-zack!" he squeaked, tearing the head phones from his ears and blushing to his hair line. "W-what are you doing here?" Zack grinned, crossing his arms.

"Weeeell, I thought that we were going to eat lunch together since it's our day off and Seph's busy till dinner."

"O-o-oh. S-sorry I…. forgot." Snorting, Zack shook his head and stepped closer to his friend, taking the head phones and music player from him before he could hide them.

"Hey! Zack! Give that back!"

"No way! I wanna hear what you were listening to, Spiky!"

"Zack!" Laughing, he dodged his friend's attempts to grab the items back and hit the play button, holding the head phones up to his ear. Sure enough, the beat came in quick and strong, easy to follow and sounded like fun. He could see how it caused the blonde to move like he had been. Laughing at the pout on the blonde's face he handed the head phones and player back, ruffling his hair.

"Well, now I know why you're so flexible. Do you just dance or do something else too?" Cloud blushed and scowled at him, walking away to go hide the items somewhere in the apartment.

"Aw come on, Spiky! Tell me!" He called, following the boy down the hall to the main bedroom.

"You're an ass, Zack!"

"You've still gotta tell me!"

"Like hell I do!"

"What are you so embarrassed about? You know I do yoga!"

"Yeah but no one teases you about it!"

"They did so!" Cloud glared at him, stuffing the head phones and player into a night stand drawer.

"Oh come on, I'm not going to say anything!"

"Yeah right."

"I won't!" Shooting him a disbelieving look, Cloud stomped past his friend and out of the apartment, Zack hot on his heels.

"Spiky!"

"No!"

"Come on!"

"Go to hell!"

"You know, Seph would probably find it hot." Cloud froze, hand half raised to the elevator call button. Very slowly, the blonde turned to him, a fierce glare narrowing his eyes and competing with the blush still staining his cheeks. If it had been anyone else, Zack would have been mildly intimidated but he always found Cloud's attempt at scaring someone adorable.

"You tell him and I'll kill you." Rolling his eyes, Zack slung an arm around the blonde's shoulders and squeezed.

"I won't but I'm telling you he'd like it." Not dignifying it with a response, Cloud stepped into the elevator and kicked Zack in the shin when he followed. Grinning and rubbing his leg, Zack pushed the button for the ground floor and began chattering about maybe roping some of the guys into a dance session to see if it worked for them. Cloud just continued to sulk and glare at him which was partially why he talked about it in the first place. He was so cute when riled up! When he mentioned telling Sephiroth once again Cloud hit him and ignored him the rest of the way to the cafeteria.

Oh well. He'd call Seph anyway and tell him he'd better get home early that night if he wanted to see Cloud's flexibility routine. No doubt Cloud would thank him later.

~*~

With a weary sigh, Sephiroth leaned against the elevator wall and pushed the button for the proper floor. When Zack had called him earlier and recommended he get home early his curiosity had been struck. Truth be told, he had been planning on doing just that as he had realized a few days prior how little time he had been spending lately with his little blonde. The boy never said anything but he could tell that he was not pleased to see Sephiroth leave so early in the morning and get home so late at night. Zack's observant tendencies must have been rubbing off on him. So with Zack's call and allusion to Cloud doing something to increase his flexibility fueling him he finished work early and headed home. Now, as he stood outside his apartment door, he listened closely for any signs of his young lover being in the apartment. Hearing movement, he carefully opened the door, feeling the sudden urge to surprise the boy. However, as he stepped into the living room, he received the surprise.

Cloud's feet were stationary, spread apart as the rest of his body moved to a beat Sephiroth could only very faintly hear. His knees bent occasionally though his upper body, arms and hips were doing most of the movement. If he could hear it, he'd be certain that the boy was moving easily to the beat, his hips and upper body moving in perfect rhythm, arms raised and moving around his head. Twisting, turning flowing to the music only he could hear it made Sephiroth curious. Unable to resist, he moved closer and when Cloud turned his back to him in a half spin he wrapped his arms around his waist and enjoyed the few quick seconds that body continued to move against him before he registered the body against his back. Quickly, he pulled the head phones from his ears and whipped his head around to glare at the intruder.

"Damn it--!" He froze, registering the cat slit green eyes glowing amusedly down at him. "H-hi, Seph." Chuckling, he gave Cloud a little squeeze but made no move to release him.

"I assume this is what Zackary meant by your way of staying flexible?" Cloud's jaw dropped open in shock, a rosy blush rising to his cheeks. With a groan, he hid his face in his hands, leaning back against his silver haired lover who merely laughed at his embarrassment and cuddled him closer.

"I'm gonna kill, Zack." Sephiroth nuzzled just under the blonde's ear, one hand settling on his hip.

"I am afraid I can't allow that, Cloud. I'd rather not lose one of my best SOLDIERs." Cloud pouted up at him.

"Can I least hit him?"

"Hm. I suppose I could permit that." He said slowly, a wicked idea sparking to life in his mind. Cloud's eyes narrowed on him. Pressing his lips close to Cloud's ear at the blonde's suspicious look he whispered the other end of the deal.

"You will have to dance for me first." And there it went. Straight up to his hair line, Cloud blushed, his ears turning a charming shade of red as he squawked a denial and whacked him on the arm, struggling to get free of his teasing lover. Chuckling amused, Sephiroth felt the stress of the last few days melt from him and held his squirming lover close.

~*~

The next day, Zack received two things. An email from Sephiroth thanking him for his suggestion of going home early to try and catch Cloud during his flexibility exercise and a highly irate and embarrassed friend that wouldn't stop hitting him with his back pack when they met up for lunch.


End file.
